Minor spoilers for “All The Light We Cannot See”.
Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres to read and “All The Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr has been on my TBR (to be read) list for a while now.
I cannot believe that it took me this long to finally pick it up and read it because it quickly shot to the top of the list of books I’d read in 2023 and made it onto my list of favorite books of all time.
“All The Light We Cannot See” is set in World War II and follows the story of several characters, with a central focus on Marie-Laure Leblanc, a blind girl living in a Nazi-occupied France, and Werner Pfennig, an orphan who was recruited to join the German army for his genius brain.
The book opens with a consistent plot point with the story of the Sea of Flames, a gem thought to give immortality to whoever owned it, at the cost of everyone else’s lives.
It then quickly throws you into action as Marie and her father escape to Saint-Malo, where they seek refuge with her Uncle Etienne. We see Werner acclimate to the ways of the Nazis as he creates and identifies radio tracking devices to help the Germans decipher encrypted messages.
We also are introduced to the antagonist, Reinhold von Rumpel, who is a Nazi official in charge of collecting gems and jewels from the territories that the Nazis occupied.
From the start, I was hooked on the beautiful and descriptive writing style that Doerr incorporates into his book. He played with different perspectives in such an interesting way that everything just tied together and made sense in the end. The concept was unique in anything I’ve read and the way that he executed the story was simply brilliant.
For me, the characters are what truly makes a historical fiction novel captivating and Doerr excelled in introducing us to his characters. They had so much depth and life to them that I saw myself in a lot of their traits. I especially loved the way the relationships in this novel were forged because of how seamlessly natural Doerr made them, and the way the characters all intertwined was just ingenious.
The novel was devastating in the most perfect way and I loved every second of reading it. This is one of those books that had me speechless throughout and I cannot emphasize how much it means to me.
But of course, I couldn’t stay away from the emotional damage the book gave me. I finished the novel just in time for the release of the four-episode show on Netflix, which came out on November 2, 2023.
Normally, screen adaptations of novels are not well done, but the filmmakers did “All The Light We Cannot See” so much justice.
From the casting to the sets and even the movie effects, they delivered aspects and details from the book to the show and made the story so much more profound. The first episode quickly introduced us to all the characters and the rest of the show moved at a fast pace that just drew me in.
The way the show changed the point of view, like the book, made me spiral. I was so happy that we got the story from all the characters and the actors did a fantastic job at portraying the pain, the confusion, and the sadness that was found in the book. Every episode had me with tears streaming down my face and gasping in shock.
I was not ready to see Marie and her Papa’s heartwarming relationship on screen. One of my favorite parts about the book and the show was them.
There were small things here and there that the show altered, most specifically the ending with Marie and Werner. As a romance girlie, I personally adored this tiny addition because it gives so much bittersweet hope, which was a major theme of the book.
“All The Light We Cannot See” literally changed my life and I will forever spend the rest of my days rereading it and recommending it to everyone possible. The show only amplified my appreciation for it.